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Daniel Caler (left) and Annie Caler (Benton County Sheriff’s Office).
An Arkansas couple was arrested for allegedly abusing a teenage girl for years, including sexually assaulting her, forcing her to take drugs, and denying her food.
Daniel Caler, 34, and Annie Caler, 28, were arrested on May 9 after a teenager living in their home reported to a school counselor that she was being abused. Court documents obtained by KNWA, a local Fox affiliate, stated that the girl told police she had allegedly been raped repeatedly by Daniel Caler going back to August 2020 and lasting until March 2023, when Annie Caler intervened. However, the girl told police that Annie Caler allegedly inflicted even more abuse.
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According to the court documents, the girl claimed to police that Annie Caler allegedly stabbed her in the neck with a fork after the girl failed to clean the dishes to her liking. During this incident, Annie Caler reportedly told the girl, “I hope you die.”
The girl also told police that when she had a broken leg, the couple allegedly refused to take her to the hospital for treatment.
While living in the home, the girl told police that she was forced to sleep in a bathtub without a pillow or blankets and was fed just once a week — reportedly being given just a glass of water and a Pop-Tart. She told investigators that the couple physically abused her by pushing her into walls and punching and kicking her.
The girl was also forced by the couple to ingest illegal drugs including fentanyl, cocaine, methadone and methamphetamine, according to court documents. She stated that Annie Caler allegedly “forced her to snort the drugs at least four times,” according to local CBS affiliate KSFM’s reporting on the documents.
According to the documents, the girl told police that after Annie Caler witnessed one of the earlier alleged sexual assaults on her by Daniel Caler, the couple “talked about it,” and during that time, Daniel Caler threatened to kill his wife. This, the girl explained to police, was why she hesitated to report her abuse.
The relationship was between the girl and the Calers was not immediately clear.
But in April 2025, the girl told police, she finally felt safe enough to tell someone, and that she had found people who would protect her. She also reportedly said she could not “live with the guilt thinking it was her fault anymore.”
Daniel Caler and Annie Caler were arrested on May 9 and booked into the Benton County Detention Center. Daniel Caler was charged with rape, terroristic threatening, endangering the welfare of a minor, sexual assault, and permitting abuse of a minor. Annie Caler was charged with introduction of a controlled substance into the body of another person, permitting the abuse of a minor, terroristic threatening, battery, and endangering the welfare of a minor.